Is American Airlines cracking down on Skiplagging?

It appears that American Airlines is getting serious about cracking down on passengers who ski on skis. One passenger said he was asked to pay $ 2,500 after AA accused them of taking some 52 ski flights. The airline says this does not meet its conditions of carriage and has requested reimbursement for its losses.

Fight against the hidden cities ticket office

“Skiplagging” or “hidden cities ticketing” is a well-known method of obtaining inexpensive travel. The nuances of airline ticket pricing, which are primarily based on demand rather than the actual cost of the service, mean it’s sometimes cheaper to book a longer segment with a connection than to book directly – go. understand.

Skiplagging exploits this fact, with passengers paying for a connecting flight they never intend to take. For example, if I wanted to book from Dallas to Los Angeles, a direct flight would come out at £ 124 ($ 162).

However, I also found a one-stop route in San Francisco, with a stopover at LAX, for just £ 70 ($ 91). Conceivably, I could buy this connecting flight, fly the DFW part to LAX and just not catch the next flight at SFO. As a bonus, the Dallas-Los Angeles portion is flown by the American Airlines Dreamliner.

However, airlines don’t like it and see it as a “cheat” of their fare system. Some take a harsher approach than others. German airline Lufthansa has previously tried to prosecute a passenger for skiing, and United Airlines has also tried to punish these deceptive passengers.

Now it looks like American Airlines wants to crack down as well.

Stay informed: Subscribe to our daily summary of aeronautical news.

A $ 2,500 bill

The One Mile At A Time aviation blog was picked up on the road by AA to punish ski passengers after one such person posted their experience on FlyerTalk. The passenger had been contacted by an American Airlines analyst, who said he had identified 52 cases of hidden city ticketing.

The American Airlines representative informed the passenger that “The Hidden City ticket office is explicitly defined in AA’s conditions of carriage as a violation of ticket validity,” and said the person’s account would be terminated unless they paid some form of restitution for the losses incurred. In the letter, the representative exposed the problem of this practice. They said,

Just like other commodities, airline seats are priced to market. A seat on a non-stop flight is a premium product and costs more. Seats in correspondence markets must be offered at competitive prices and can therefore be significantly cheaper. The detrimental effects of the point beyond the ticket office are twofold; the customer receives the flight for a price to which they are not entitled and a seat is wasted on the separate connecting flight. An airplane ticket constitutes a contract and the terms of this contract are set out explicitly in the Conditions of Carriage.

The representative allegedly suggested that the client pay a one-time fee of $ 2,500 for the 52 cases he identified of plagiarism. Considering it costs less than $ 50 per trip, it’s a bit of a bargain here.

There’s a good chance the passenger has saved a lot more than that on the cost of airline tickets over the years, not to mention the fact that they’ve accumulated around 600,000 AAdvantage miles and, given the current circumstances, are performing typically around 100 segments per year. Considering everything, it seems fair that they spit out the requested amount.

It looks like AA is starting to take skiers in earnest, but will likely focus on repeat offenders like this guy. Still, if you’re tempted to indulge in a bit of Hidden City ticketing, don’t be surprised if you get caught.